Prepared: A Manual for Surviving Worst-Case Scenarios

Everyday carry, or EDC, is defined as the items, gear, and clothing an individual should always keep on their person, or at least on a daily basis. Everyday carry is often seen as a “bugout bag” or other specifically survival-oriented gear, but Glover considers this to be composed of all the items a prepared individual wears and carries. Shoelaces, jackets, sunglasses, and backpacks can all be optimized for survival. According to Glover, EDC also includes survival-targeted items, like a knife, Mylar blanket, signaling mirror, firearm, and first aid kit. These items can drastically improve chances of survival and are good to have close at hand in a crisis.

The homestead is defined as the apex of effective survivalism and is the traditional base for survivalist activity, especially in the isolationist movement. A homestead, or a non-moving domicile, has the greatest potential for sustainable survival. More effective medical care can be accomplished in a single prepared location, for instance, and a homestead can support food production resources like a garden or livestock. “Homestead” as opposed to “home” reflects the idea that this is a more significant domestic compound, including elements such as food production, storage, energy resourcing, and training areas. Homesteads are vulnerable because they cannot pick up and move like a vehicle or an individual, but a homestead also has the most potential for robust defense. A prepared homestead can be the difference between life and death in a sustained crisis or grid failure.

Mobility refers to an individual or group’s ability to survive while moving and the possible strategy of not settling in one place for very long. Toward this end, vehicles like cars and motorcycles can be optimized for more long-term survival than an individual can accomplish with EDC alone. Vehicles can carry more food and water, more medical supplies, and more defense gear than an individual, making them a huge boon in survival. However, vehicles also come with increased fuel demands that must be considered, and they will be less able to navigate very rough terrain than an individual on foot.

A resilient mindset is the ability of an individual to recover quickly from shock and stress and perform effectively in the face of a disaster. This is focused on an individual’s ability to effectively control their “fight or flight” threat response. Emergency resilience is most often impeded by the likelihood of humans to freeze in times of great stress while their nervous system “reboots.” This freezing instinct is suboptimal since it stops individuals from taking action to improve their safety and that of others. Mental resilience can be developed through preparation, practice, experience, and self-confidence. Though developing a resilient mind can be a daunting task, the reward for developing it can include saving lives, including one’s own. Prepared uses the example of the school shooting at Virginia Tech. Most students, lacking experience with violent situations, involuntarily froze at the sound of gunfire. A student in the ROTC who was used to the sound of a gun was able to spring into action. Likewise, a professor who was a Holocaust survivor had the trauma experience and courage to take life-saving measures.

Situational awareness is defined as the ability to spot the “baseline” of a particular environment. This baseline constitutes the general behavior of people, the weather, the traffic, the conversation, and the events that could be considered normal in a particular scenario. Identifying this baseline makes it easier to spot “spikes” or anomalies that might indicate a problem. Glover gives the case of Tilly Smith as an example, a child who was able to identify the signs of an imminent tsunami while on vacation. Although the adults in her vicinity were inclined to ignore or minimize her worries, Tilly insisted that they evacuate the beach. Through her situational awareness, over 100 lives were saved.